Unit 4-Elections, Campaigns and Polling

• Election of 2000
• -Florida's inconsistent standards for hand recounts violates 14th Amendment equal protection clause
• -Since Electoral Votes must be cast by December 18th, no time to create consistent hand recount standards

• It all came down to Florida
• Couldn't project who was going to win the election
• Statewide MACHINE recounts show Bush ahead by 1,725 votes
• FACT: Counties handle recount
• FACT: Each does it differently
• FACT: Chads became an issue
• BUT: 40,000 ballots for POTUS in Florida had problems!
• Katherine Harris calls off recount
• Supreme Court overrules and continues recount

Nader also through off the ballots- Gore could have one

Bush resulted in winning the election

Closed Primary: Elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for the party's candidates, thus encouraging greater loyalty to the party.

Open Primaries: Elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on Election Day whether they want to participate in the Democrat or Republican contests.  

Being a voting member of a community or organization and having the power to appoint or elect.

The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress.

The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your state’s entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for your Senators. Read more about the allocation of electoral votes.

Under the 23rd Amendment of the Constitution, the District of Columbia is allocated 3 electors and treated like a state for purposes of the Electoral College. For this reason, in the following discussion, the word “state” also refers to the District of Columbia. Each candidate running for President in your state has his or her own group of electors. The electors are generally chosen by the candidate’s political party, but state laws vary on how the electors are selected and what their responsibilities are. 

Most states have a “winner-take-all” system that awards all electors to the winning presidential candidate. However, Maine and Nebraska each have a variation of “proportional representation.”